The Graduate School's On-Leave Policies
For information about the Graduate School's continuous enrollment and graduate leave policies, including eligibilty requirements, procedures for requesting leave, and reinstatement to the Graduate School, see Continuous Enrollment and On-Leave Policy.
Departmental On-Leave Policy
The Department of History normally grants on-leave status to graduate students in good standing who meet the Graduate School's eligibility requirements. Many students go on-leave during part of their dissertation research and writing--sometimes to undertake research off-campus, and sometimes to undertake professional employment elsewhere. This is certainly acceptable to the Department, provided it does not unduly extend the dissertation writing process. Leave will be limited to the quarters in which the student is engaged in full-time research/writing. Leave can also be granted in cases of students who need to be on leave for medical/health reasons.
The History Department will normally approve leaves for up to four consecutive quarters (summer included). If a student wants to extend leave into a second consecutive year, the Chair of the student's committee must confirm that the student is making satisfactory progress for each quarter that leave is requested in the second year before the leave request will be approved. A History graduate student can be on leave for a maximum of two years (eight consecutive quarters, summers included).
Because a student must be in good standing to be eligible to go on leave, the History Department does not normally approve leave for a student who has exceeded the Graduate School's limits on time to degree.
The History Department's deadline for submission of the leave request is the 10th class day of each quarter.
Reinstatement to the History Graduate Program
A History doctoral student who lapsed from the History graduate program may be considered for reinstatement to the program to defend and finish the PhD degree, under the following circumstances:
- At the time the student lapsed, the student must have achieved doctoral candidacy (PhC) and have completed all departmental and Graduate School degree requirements except the completion and defense of the dissertation
- The student must need 10 or fewer HSTRY 800 credits to complete the degree (the student must have already earned at least 20 credits of HSTRY 800).
The student’s doctoral committee must be reconstituted
- The committee must consist of at least three readers (the Chair is one of the readers) and a Graduate School Representative (GSR). All members of the committee must have active UW graduate faculty status. The Chair and the GSR must be endorsed to Chair/serve as a GSR. The Chair must be a member of the UW History Department. The GSR cannot have any appointments (primary/joint/adjunct/affiliate) in connection with the UW History Department
- Members of the student’s original Reading Committee can serve on the committee unless they have retired, have left the University of Washington, or are otherwise not available to serve. Members of the original Reading Committee are not obligated to serve on the student’s reconstituted Reading Committee.
- If it is necessary to reconstitute the Reading Committee by adding new members, the student can approach current active faculty and ask them to serve. Faculty members are not obligated to agree to serve on the student’s committee.
- The original GSR can continue in this role on the reconstituted committee unless the faculty member has retired, has left the University of Washington, no longer has graduate faculty status, or is otherwise not available to serve. The original GSR is not obligated to agree to serve on the student’s reconstituted committee.
Before the History Department will approve the reinstatement of a student, while out of status the student must have completed researching and writing the dissertation, the student's Reading Committee must have read and approved a complete draft of the entire dissertation, and the readers and GSR must have agreed to a specific day/time in a future quarter to hold the defense. The student will then be reinstated for that one future quarter only, to defend and complete the degree. The student must apply for reinstatement (https://grad.uw.edu/policies/reinstatement/) and pay the reinstatement fee.
The student must be registered during the defense quarter: the History Department will pay for 2 credits of HSTRY 800 for the defense quarter (the student is responsible for paying any fees, etc. not covered by this tuition payment).The student is responsible for paying the tuition and fees for any additional HSTRY 800 credits needed to complete the degree that quarter.
During the one quarter of reinstatement, the reinstated student will not generally be prioritized to receive departmental funding (such as travel awards) or hold departmental appointments (such as ASE positions).